Roar Pro
Joined April 2021
55.8k
Views
50
Published
371
Comments
Published
Comments
Last week, you read about the Matt XI, a compilation of the best cricketers ever to represent the name Matt. And to be fair,…
There has never been an Australian Prime Minister, King of England or US President with the first name of Matt, but there have been some great cricketers.
The conclusion of the Sheffield Shield season, here's the announcement of the players and teams who have succeeded - and failed - this year.
The last round of the Sheffield Shield, and finally, we have our two finalists! Keep reading to find out who made it to the…
The second last round of the Sheffield Shield, and competition for the first two spots is heating up! Keep reading to find out who…
The last round of the Sheffield Shield before the Test squad flies to New Zealand, and considering that 19 days had elapsed since the…
The Sheffield Shield returns and with it all the drama and intrigue around who is voted off Test selection island next. Stay tuned for…
If I were picking an Australian Test side today, I would not have Cameron Green in my side. The reason is quite simple; Cam…
Junior sports across Australia, from rugby league to cricket suffer from a dearth of umpires. Umpires, referees, whatever they are called, exist to adjudicate…
Sometimes, selections for the Australian cricket team leave me wondering why the Sheffield Shield competition exists. Any one of the 66 players in the…
The final round before the Big Bash League gets underway and the Test summer... let's see who impressed in an intriguing Round 6 of…
Round 5 had two tricky wickets, a few epic collapses and provided further proof that modern batters struggle to grind out long innings. Here’s…
Round 4 separated the likely from the aspirational. It produced a huge upset and exposed some frailties in other sides. Victoria vs Tasmania CitiPower…
Round 3 was full of excitement and included two comprehensive wins and one victory that went down to the final over of the final…
Week two of the Sheffield Shield is in the books and as we look to make sense of the first six rounds of the…
This is an attempt to make sense of the first six rounds of the Sheffield Shield competition and, with the Test team about to…
How many people watched the Australia A versus New Zealand A series? There did not seem to be very many spectators at the ground…
Major in history in any one of the fine Australian universities and one of the first things the professors will tell you is that…
Eight seconds. That’s the attention span of an average human adult in 2023. That’s the same amount of time it takes to tie a…
The North Queensland Cowboys have proved an enigma in the 2023 NRL season. Discovering the root cause of their issues would take a detective…
I actually forgot Panesar! I was thinking Noble (thanks SCG).
What’s in a name? The all-time great Steve XI
Often the best players make the worst commentators.
What’s in a name? The all-time great Steve XI
Nii, I agree that not everyone would agree that Smith is the greatest modern batsman (hence my use of the word “arguably” before it). I reckon Williamson has been more consistent than Smith, and that Smith may ruin some of his legacy with a failed opening bid.
Re: the Matt XI. Hayden was a great? Matt Nicholson would be in a similar league as Hoggard, surely?
What’s in a name? The all-time great Steve XI
Oh totally agree! Very long tail. I was going to do a Monty XI, but there’s only 1 to have played…
What’s in a name? The all-time great Steve XI
Fair. He was the best of the bunch in the Matt XI. A lot is resting on his very broad shoulders in that XI.
What’s in a name? The all-time great Steve XI
As in the Broncos coach?
Matt, Mat or Matthew... The Best XI that shares the popular great name to play top-level cricket
Ooh a Mitchell (Michelle?) XI would be good!
Marsh
Johnson
Starc
Swepson
Santner
?
Matt, Mat or Matthew... The Best XI that shares the popular great name to play top-level cricket
I’d take the Khan XI too! 😂
Matt, Mat or Matthew... The Best XI that shares the popular great name to play top-level cricket
That Mike XI is seriously good! And Mike Hussey could keep at a pinch.
Matt, Mat or Matthew... The Best XI that shares the popular great name to play top-level cricket
All 3 of these would’ve been great additions to the above squad.
Matt, Mat or Matthew... The Best XI that shares the popular great name to play top-level cricket
Geez, that’s impressive! I’m working on the George XI and there are some seriously good cricketers in there!
Matt, Mat or Matthew... The Best XI that shares the popular great name to play top-level cricket
Some might even say he liked to field well before he bowled! 😂
Team of the Month: an April-born World Cricket XI
I appreciate the article, but I’ll quibble on one point. You’ve pointed to diminishing returns in the Sheffield Shield. By and large, that’s true, but it’s not because the batting standard has gone down, T20 cricket, bad techniques or any of that stuff. No, the diminishing returns are largely due to the fact that most Shield games, especially this season, were played on lively tracks with a bit in it for the quicks early on. There were only two games in which, when the pitch flattened out, the batsmen could get in. Caleb Jewell made 200 in one of them and Cameron Bancroft and the aforementioned Cameron Green made tons in response. So, yeah, I’d just say that the wickets have been largely the cause of the lower scores in the Shield. I’ve just finished a series on the entire 10 rounds, so head over to the profile to check it out.
For mine, Ben McDermott played a couple of the best innings in the Shield this season, but statistically, they were reasonably insignificant. Also, Marnus made 40-odd captaining QLD that got very few plaudits at the time, but like his 90 in NZ, was a defining innings.
Australia's batters only scored three tons last summer: Why it is time to move past the obsession of the 'big score'
Plus, with the number of batsmen leaving their creases early in the modern game, imagine how many run outs he’d get at the non-striker’s end! 😂
Team of the Month: an April-born World Cricket XI
In response to your critiques, yes nobody really stood out at 3. Charlie Wakim was probably the standout no. 3, but I couldn’t leave out Whiteman for Wakim. It didn’t make sense to do that. Re: Tremain, all wickets this season have been relatively bowler friendly, but the SCG deck has been friendlier to quicks than it otherwise has been in many seasons. On flat decks, he may struggle, but I’d imagine that he’d be much like Boland in that he’d just put it on the spot ball after ball.
Sheffield Shield wrap: Crowning the award winners for the 2024 Season
I was just criticising WA for doing exactly that, but then they rolled them cheaply.
Sheffield Shield wrap: Crowning the award winners for the 2024 Season
I nearly gave the shonky to Josh Philippe, but then figured you’d take issue with a west Australian getting it. 😂
Sheffield Shield wrap: Crowning the award winners for the 2024 Season
He was up there, that’s for sure! Probably should’ve been him to be fair, but Neser did have a bad season and shouldn’t have been on the plane to NZ.
Sheffield Shield wrap: Crowning the award winners for the 2024 Season
Two major issues with Webster that I see. One is that he’s from Tassie. Most players from Tassie don’t get the credit they deserve and Davies is from NSW. He probably has the Baggy Green he was given with his Baggy Blue safely stored away. 😂
Second, there are already 2 all rounders in the Aussie side. I don’t think there’s as much of a push to get him in because he’s both not in the “best six batsmen in the country”, as our wonderful selectors keep saying, nor is he in the anointed two all rounders.
Sheffield Shield wrap: Crowning the award winners for the 2024 Season
Something different to the other “experts” who picked their sides. Plus, every side needs a backup batsman and bowler.
Sheffield Shield wrap: Crowning the award winners for the 2024 Season
Most of the experts went such an XI, and it was difficult for me to narrow down exactly who to fit in. Plus, in case of injury, you always need a backup batsman and bowler. So, just something different I guess.
Sheffield Shield wrap: Crowning the award winners for the 2024 Season
What about England ’05? Ooh Aah missing then as well which we all know impacted that series.
What’s in a name? The all-time great Steve XI